On July 8, 1947, a crash in Roswell, N.M., was the spark that started UFO fever burning in the U.S. And for some, that passion is just as intense today as when they first learned that a crash in the desert had been labeled a UFO — and quickly re-labeled a weather balloon by government officials.

“It was not a damn weather balloon — it was what it was billed when people first reported it,” Chase Brandon, a 35-year CIA veteran, told the Huffington Post. His comments came on July 8, 2012 — 65 years after the Roswell Daily Record newspaper ran a front page article claiming “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region.”

“It was a craft that clearly did not come from this planet, it crashed and I don’t doubt for a second that the use of the word ‘remains’ and ‘cadavers’ was exactly what people were talking about.”